A historic property on Mountain Road in Jaffrey has found new life as a native plant nursery.

The property is owned by Doug Clayton, a former caretaker of the property when it was owned as a summer property by Dr. Graham Jeffries and his wife Elizabeth Jeffries. Clayton agreed to take on the house and land, but said he had no idea what to do with it. The 1800s farmhouse needs serious work, Clayton said, and he had to find a way to maintain the property and pay the taxes, while still preserving the land in a way that was consistent with the strict rules of the town’s Mountain Zone.

Clayton said he met with representatives from town to discuss possible options for the property. He has been interested in growing food and permaculture – the development of agricultural ecosystems intended to be sustainable and self-sufficient – since the 1980s, so something of an agricultural bent was a natural fit, but he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do, he said.

The solution came in the form of an old friend, Aaron Abitz.

“It just evolved, organically,” Clayton said.

Abitz, who owns Katsura Landscaping in Jaffrey, uses a mindful, whole-systems approach with a focus on pollinator and edible gardens. 

“As a local landscaper, it was hard to find the plants I wanted to use, particularly native plants,” Abitz said.

Abitz had been thinking about starting a nursery to be able to grow the plants himself.  That’s when the partnership was formed for Fassett Farm Nursery – agriculture being one of the few industries allowed in the Mountain Zone. Clayton owns the land, and Abitz owns the business, but Clayton said they have a similar vision.

“Now I can grow my own plants,” Abitz said.

Clayton and Abitz said they’d also like the property to host occasional demonstrations or talks. Their soft opening on Saturday, to celebrate Earth Day, involved a demonstration by Clayton on various methods of creating biochar – charcoal produced from plant matter and stored in the soil as a means of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – and hosted a talk on designing edible ecosystems.

The event was the first look many got at the future of the property, with the nursery expecting to officially open on Memorial Day weekend.

Abitz said he wants to bring awareness to some of the native options in his landscape planning.

“I’m drawn to them. We have great, beautiful plants that grow right here,” Abitz said. “It’s about how we can make a positive impact and change the landscape.”

There are several benefits to using native trees and plants, Abitz said. Because they evolved for the New England weather and soil, they’re more adaptable, and already have cooperative relationships with other native plants and animals.

Dave Jacke, an ecological designer who attended the opening on Saturday to give a talk on creating edible ecosystems, said it is a misconception that evolution always favors the “strongest” – in fact, he said, it is often those plants that are cooperative, not competitive, to the other plants around them, that do well.

“More cooperation is what they evolve to. Native plants already have those cooperative relationships,” Jacke said.

Among the offerings at Fassett Farm Nursery are bayberries, chokeberries, hazelnut trees, chestnut trees and medicinal herbs. There are also some non-native options, including fruit trees grafted by Clayton.

“A lot of them have multiple functions,” Abitz said. “They’re food, or medicine, or nitrogen-fixing plants.”

In addition to growing the plants for his own landscaping business, they will also be available for purchase by the public, Abitz said. In addition to growing plants in a hot house on the property, Abitz said he and Clayton will also be landscaping the Mountain Road property with the plants they grow, both to diversify the property’s landscape and to showcase what the plantings will eventually look like.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172. Ext. 244, or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.

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